A decade of gathering open source citizens: Portland’s Open Source Bridge turns 10

Ten years ago, the current Portland startup community was just starting to coalesce. And it’s no secret that many of the connections, gatherings, and events that made that possible were very much due to a substantially larger and more well connected tech community—the open source community—whose activity served as the foundation for the growing community of tech entrepreneurs.

In those days, Portland was recognized as a hub of open source activity. Not only was it home to a rich tapestry of user groups and camps, it was home to well known open source contributors. And that aura was only bolstered by Portland being home to the largest open source conference, OSCON.

So when Portland open source folks heard the rumor that OSCON was leaving Portland to host the event in another city, they did what open source folks do best. They took matters into their own hands. And created an event of their own. And worked to design an event that better matched the culture of the community. That event was Open Source Bridge. And it’s been going strong for nine years.

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Published by Rick Turoczy

More than mildly obsessed with the Portland startup community. Founder and editor at Silicon Florist. Cofounder and general manager at PIE. Follow me on Twitter: @turoczy
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